MANSFIELD, Ohio — Award-winning chili and a haircut that will need further work was the table Gabriel Almeda set for himself Thursday.
A member of the Operations Force Support Squadron, Almeda supplied the recipe and his team, dressed in Major League garb, brought home top prize during Thursday’s 16th annual Combined Federal Campaign Chili Cook-Off.
“It’s my dad’s recipe,” Almeda said. “It took three days to cook it. There are green chiles, fire roasted tomatoes, three kinds of beans, Poblano peppers, lots of sausage and ground beef.
“We had a small group out of our squadron bring in four chili (samples) and this was the one that was picked.”
Almeda was also dressed as Charlie Sheen’s character in the movie Major League. He went to the extent of shaving zig-zags in the back of his head to emulate the bizarre cut carved into the skull of Ricky “Wild Thing” Vaughn. Almeda said he’ll be seeing a barber shortly to straighten out the mess.
Still, the family’s recipe was the Chili Bowl winner among eight entries as judged by 200th RED HORSE Squadron Commander Col. Andy Stephan, Dan Varn, executive director of United Way, and John Maver, with the 211 network.
Stephan noted the cook-off is more than just a fundraiser, it’s also a morale booster for RED HORSE Squadron.
“I’m having fun,” Stephan said, after gulping down a spicy spoonful. “This one has a Southwest flavor to it. Some are tomato-based.”
The event was staged to promote the CFC and all donations and proceeds went to support the campaign. Barb Crider, who helped organize the event, said this is a six-week fundraiser that involves a joint group of federal offices, including the U.S. Postal Service, the Veterans Administration, Social Security, the IRS and the 179th Airlift Wing.
According to the CFC website, the organization is designed to “promote and support philanthropy through a program that is employee focused, cost-efficient, and effective in providing all federal employees the opportunity to improve the quality of life for all.”
“This isn’t a United Way organization, it’s CFC,” said Wendy Speelman of the IRS. “We work with the United Way. They handle the processing for us.”
CFC funds go to a combined federal fund campaign, then contributions go to a list of national and local organizations.
Adding to the fun at RED HORSE, eight teams were decked out in various garb.
“Every year they pick a theme and this year it was movies (and TV),” Crider said.
The Airlift Headquarters team won best theme, dressed as the cast from Gilligan’s Island. The People’s Choice Award went to the Operations Group Support, for their Rambo ensemble featuring First Blood Chili.
Other teams included RED HORSE (which boasted a Monsters Inc. Chili), Communications Flight (adorned in Revenge of the Nerds garb), the Medical Group (sporting Despicable Me costumes), the Security Forces Squadron (decked out in Star Wars outfits), and Controller Flight (with a Saturday Night Live theme).
The IRS cooked chili, but its representatives were not in costume.
“We’re all accountants, we’re not creative, so we didn’t dress up,” Speelman said with a laugh. “We focused on chili. It’s sweet and it’s good.”
